Lost and Found
by The Pusillanimous Platypus
Summary: After the Battle of Jabiim, Siri Tachi finds herself sinking into despair and depression at Obi-Wan's supposed death. Months later, a vision from the Force suggests that all may not be as it seems, however. Armed with new information and a fresh sense of hope, Siri sets out on a solo rescue mission... and no hairless harpy is going to stand in her way.
1. Chapter 1

**Star Wars: Lost and Found**

Chapter 1:

Alone.

Out here, in the mesmerising blue void of hyperspace, she was alone.

Completely alone, stuck in a tiny durasteel box as it hurtled through hyperspace. Nobody else around for lightyears in every direction.

That was the situation that Siri Tachi found herself in at this moment. Ironically, it also seemed to be a metaphor for the way she had felt, ever since that day – that awful, horrible, heartbreaking day – a little over three months ago.

Since the war began all those months ago, in the arena on Geonosis, she had been involved primarily in an espionage role, infiltrating Separatist facilities, running spy networks and acting as an occasional double agent, feeding false or useless information directly to the CIS high command. When Master Tholme had recruited her for such a role, it had not really come as a surprise. After all, it was essentially the same thing as she had been doing since her mission to infiltrate Krayn's organisation, before she had even officially been knighted.

As a result, she had hardly seen the frontlines of the war and had walked the familiar corridors of the Jedi Temple even less frequently.

Nevertheless, she did have occasion to return home sometimes. Three months ago had been the last such instance. She remembered it vividly. With the Order stretched thin by the war, her debriefing had been carried out by just Tholme and Windu.

She had recounted her experiences of the previous month, spent posing once again as the bounty hunter Zora Katana as she fed the Republic information from within Admiral Sholn's fleet, before slipping away during the Republic victory at the Battle of Sardos Major.

After giving her report, the Jedi spymaster and the Councillor had been updating her on the progress of the war, when Windu had made the offhand remark.

" _... and we have yet to appoint a successor for Master Kenobi on the Council, since he was lost on Jabiim."_

Siri had completely tuned out after that. She had been stunned. Obi-Wan... dead... it just couldn't be happening.

Making things even worse was the way that Windu had just mentioned the death of a senior member of the Jedi Council – supposedly one of the man's _friends_ – as little more than an afterthought.

In all honesty, she was amazed that she had survived her latest mission. For every day of those three months, she had been so distracted, unable to tear her thoughts away from her lost friend for more than a few minutes at a time. Every time she entered a new street, she saw his face amidst a crowd, or heard his voice reaching out to her. Several times, she had nearly called out his name, only to stop herself at the last second.

And every time, she had found that it was simply her mind playing a cruel trick on her, as she always knew it was from the beginning, despite wishing the opposite.

Above all though, she just couldn't fight the feelings of guilt that constantly threatened to overwhelm her. Obi-Wan had loved her – and she had loved him. Even now that he was gone, she still loved him. The worst thing was: she had denied that to both of them. She had been the one to insist that their relationship must end – that their duty to the Jedi Order had to come first. She could tell at the time that he was deeply hurt by her choice and yet, like the gentleman he was, he had agreed and had kept his promise ever since. Not once since that day, over a decade ago, had Obi-Wan mentioned their feelings for each other.

Now that he was gone forever though, Siri couldn't help but feel how stupid her choice had been.

She couldn't help but wish that Obi-Wan had pressed the issue – had forced her to face her feelings for him.

But that wasn't who Obi-Wan was.

Now, it was too late. He had died on the killing fields of Jabiim.

 _Jabiim._

She had never visited that miserable, rain-soaked rock and yet Siri Tachi despised Jabiim with a passion.

So many friends had perished in the quagmire of Jabiim. First her childhood friend, Reeft, had died in the Republic landings, his gunship shot from the sky. Next had been Garen Muln, crushed by a falling walker as he launched a desperate counterattack. Then there was Erin Leska, another childhood friend, felled in the final days of the battle shortly after command of the Republic forces was thrust upon her.

And finally, there was Obi-Wan. Dear, sweet, noble Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Every death had been like a hammer blow to her soul, but it was news of Obi-Wan's death that had finally shattered her.

After the explosion that took his life, there hadn't even been anything left of his body to give him a proper funeral pyre like he deserved.

In the end, deciding to try to meditate – to try and find some peace of mind amidst the chaos and pain – Siri moved from the pilot's chair and knelt down on the cold durasteel floor. Closing her eyes, she attempted to lose herself in the swirling currents of the Force.

Every time she had tried to meditate since hearing of Obi-Wan's death, her concentration had failed her but this time her connection with the Force seemed to come to her more naturally than ever.

The moment Siri was immersed in the mystical vortex of the Force however she felt a searing pain tearing through her mind; an overwhelming sense of despair enveloping her entire being.

A moment later, horrific flashes of images started to rush through her mind, each only lasting a matter of seconds, but being played out in horrific clarity.

 _A darkened room with bare duracrete walls, stained black with dried blood. The stench of death and filth seemed to permeate every molecule of the fetid air._

 _A terrible scream of anguish caused Siri to spin round._

 _That was when she saw it – the figure of a man, suspended from the ceiling by chains around his wrists, with a black mask obscuring all his facial features, save for his eyes. The man was clothed only in rags. It was several seconds before Siri realised that those clothes had once been a set of Jedi robes._

 _In front of the prisoner stood the bald-headed figure of a woman, clothed in a close-fitting black outfit, the dim light reflecting off her pale skin, giving her a wraith-like appearance._

Ventress. _There was no-one else it could be._

 _As Siri watched the scene with morbid fascination, Ventress slowly began circling her prisoner, whispering something in the man's ear. By this time, Siri could see a whip curled in one of the Sith Assassin's hands and a wicked-looking blade in the other. Slowly pacing around her captive, Siri could see Ventress leaning in every now and then to whisper something indistinguishable._

 _Suddenly Ventress lashed out, slashing open the man's back with her knife. Her victim arched his back as he hissed in pain._

 _Ventress kept on pacing, then stepped away a few paces before lashing out with the whip, striking it against her prisoner's back, flaying his skin. A cry of pain._

 _The whip cracked again._

 _And again._

 _And again._

 _Finally Ventress paused in her torture of her victim and walked back around to face him. She tilted his face up to meet her eyes, ignoring the muffled whimpers of pain._

 _Finally, the Darksider spoke clear enough for Siri to hear._

" _Why do you endure? Why won't you_ break _!" She screamed, punctuating her shout of fury by slashing the man across the chest again with her knife, eliciting yet another cry of anguish. "Surely you must see the futility of your resistance? No-one knows you are here. No-one is coming to save you. You will continue to suffer until you submit to me."_

 _The man mumbled a short reply that evidently displeased the Sith assassin._

 _With a scream of rage, she punched her victim hard in the face before delivering a flurry of brutal blows to his abdomen. The beating went on for a whole minute before she stepped back again, breathing heavily._

" _You are weak!" She spat. "You are weak, and when I have broken you, I will show your pathetic form to Dooku. He will see that you are not worthy to be his apprentice! He will see that I am the only one worthy of being his apprentice! And then – and then you will die, Kenobi!"_

Siri's yes sprang open as she gasped in shock.

She could feel the cold beads of sweat on her forehead and could feel her whole body shaking.

Clenching her fists, she tried to keep herself from trembling, at the same time squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to block out the horrific images that the Force had just shown her. It didn't help. The awful visions of Obi-Wan – her Obi-Wan – suffering at the hands of that sadistic witch seemed to be seared into her memory.

Yet amidst the horror, there was the faintest glimmer of hope.

Obi-Wan was alive.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**

 **Once again, I forgot the disclaimer in the first chapter, so here it is.**

 **I do not own Star Wars or anything associated with it.**

 **Thanks _EwanMcGregorIsMyHomeboy12_ for the review. Glad you liked it. Hope you enjoy this chapter too.**

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 **Star Wars: Lost and Found**

Chapter 2:

Flattening herself against the wall and pulling the Force tight around herself like a cloak, Siri Tachi vanished into the shadows as a pair of pale-skinned guards marched past, oblivious to her presence.

She waited for their footsteps to fade, then moved from her hiding place and quickly but cautiously made her way down the darkened corridor, constantly scanning with the Force. She could no longer feel Obi-Wan's presence as she did in hyperspace but still the Force urged her onwards, silently assuring her that she was on the correct path.

Siri reached a locked door. She quickly cast her eyes around to check for guards and then, with a flick of her wrist, used to the Force to manipulate the locking mechanism. The door clicked open and she cautiously stepped inside, taking the hilt of her lightsaber in hand as she entered the room.

 **###**

Siri narrowed her eyes as she got her first good look at the room. It was easily ten metres square and lined with display cases, each of them holding an array of rare and exquisite artefacts. Adorning the walls were a dozen or more heads of various creatures, from Gamorreans to Wampas.

This was Ventress' personal trophy room.

The Jedi Master moved slowly through the room, heading for the door on the opposite wall. All the time, she kept close to the edge of the room, ready to dart for cover should anyone else enter the chamber.

She was nearly at the other door when a glint of silver caught her eye. Siri stopped and turned her gaze back to the metallic cylinder that lay on one of the tables.

A lightsaber – one that was all too familiar to Siri.

Siri picked up the weapon and held it reverently in her hand, taking comfort in the aura of Obi-Wan Kenobi that was ingrained into the hilt.

She clipped the weapon to her belt. Finding Obi-Wan's lightsaber was the last piece of proof she needed that her closest friend was here in Ventress' lair.

Siri started to move on but the Force drew her attention to something else. There was a small, ornately carved wooden box that lay just beside where Obi-Wan's 'saber had been. Reaching out, she flipped the catch and opened the box to reveal a second lightsaber placed, almost reverently, inside a velvet-lined box.

Frowning, but sensing that the Force wanted her to take the weapon, Siri picked up the lightsaber and clipped it to her belt beside Obi-Wan's weapon.

 **###**

Leaving the trophy room, Siri descended several flights of stairs before reaching a lift shaft a few minutes later. Again, she checked that there was nobody around to bear witness to her presence.

Finding the area clear, she pulled the doors of the turbolift open with the Force and stepped forward to look down into the shaft.

The turbolift was currently waiting at the floor below.

Siri jumped down, dropping softly onto the roof of the lift with barely a sound as she cushioned her fall with the Force. She looked up to the open door on the floor above and closed the doors with a flick of her wrist. Then, with a sharp push from the Force, she disengaged the brakes and sent the turbolift hurtling downwards.

Barely thirty seconds later, Siri felt the Force telling her that she was nearly at the level she wanted. Reaching out with her mind, she applied the brakes on the turbolift again, bringing it to a stop at the level where she sensed that Asajj Ventress kept her enemies incarcerated.

Igniting the violet blade of her weapon, she plunged the searing beam of plasma down into the roof of the lift and quickly cut a circle in the metal. A sharp stamp of her boot sent the circle of durasteel crashing down.

Avoiding the burning hot edges of the hole, Siri nimbly jumped down into the lift.

Immediately she knew that this was the right place. Siri didn't even need to make an effort to read her surroundings with the Force in order to feel the cloying sense of anguish and despair that seemed to permeate every fibre of what could only be a prison.

 _Or a torture chamber_. Siri thought grimly as a chill ran up her spine.

Trying to push such thoughts aside, Siri pressed the door release button with the palm of her hand and stepped into yet another dingy, grimy corridor.

A shout of alarm caused her to spin round, just in time to see a guard approaching her.

"Hey! Who are you?" The Rattataki demanded. "What are y-"

He was cut-off abruptly as Siri grabbed him by the throat with the Force. Eyes wide in fear, the man struggled for a few seconds, hands scrabbling desperately at his constricted throat, before Siri applied more pressure to his windpipe, choking him into unconsciousness.

 **###**

Dropping the unmoving body onto the cold stone floor, Siri set off at a run, trying to ignore the feeling of revulsion at herself for having called upon the Force in such a dark manner.

It had been necessary to stop the guard from raising the alarm, but still...

Siri shook her head to clear her thoughts.

 _Snap out of it, Tachi. You can feel regret later, once Obi-Wan is safe. Focus on the mission._

Siri quickened her pace, sprinting through the dark hallways.

She rounded a corner and was confronted by another pair of guards standing outside a doorway, barely an arm's length away.

Her lightsaber already in her hand, Siri re-ignited the blade and swiftly decapitated the first guard with a controlled slash of the violet blade. The second man's eyes bulged in fear and horror at the fate of his comrade. He tried to un-sling his blaster from where it hung at his shoulder but the violet blade was quicker, dispatching him with a stab to the heart.

The guard's body crumpled into a lifeless heap on the floor beside the headless corpse of his comrade.

 **###**

Kenobi screamed in pain as Ventress stabbed her knife brutally into his left arm.

"You know, Kenobi, you Jedi are right about one thing: 'There is no death'." She smiled thinly as she recited a passage from the Jedi Code. "Not for you, at least. No. No death – only _pain_." She smirked cruelly, punctuating her words by cutting a second knife across the Jedi Master's left thigh.

Obi-Wan gave another whimper of pain as his battered body sagged in the restraints.

Ventress leaned forward and tilted his chin up with her fingers so that she could look him in the eyes.

"What was that, Kenobi? I didn't quite catch that."

The Sith assassin opened her mouth to make another mocking comment when she heard the snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting in the corridor outside, followed in quick succession by two meaty 'thuds'.

She turned away from her captive, hands reaching for the curved hilts of her own lightsabers at her waist.

The door to the prison cell hissed open, revealing the silhouette of a woman standing in the doorway, the glowing purple blade of a lightsaber at her side.

Asajj Ventress stepped away from her captive to confront the new threat, her fingers deftly plucking her lightsabers from her belt as her lip twisted into a contemptuous sneer.

The newcomer took a few paces forward as well, bringing herself into the dim light. Finally, Ventress got a good look at the female Jedi.

Admittedly, in her dark red leather unisuit, she didn't _look_ like a Jedi, but realistically there wasn't really anything else she could be – not with the lightsaber and the sickeningly _light_ Force aura that emanated from her.

"Release him, Ventress and I am willing to consider your surrender." The Jedi stated coldly.

Ventress cackled madly. "I am sorry to disappoint you, my dear, but I have grown rather fond of Master Kenobi's company." She crooned. "I could always arrange for you to stay here with him though, I suppose." She smiled.

The Jedi continued to walk slowly forward, but remained silent. As she drew closer, Ventress was able to make out the other woman's face.

 _Tachi._

She had never met the Jedi Master but had heard rumours of her skill as a pilot before the war and at the Battle of Geonosis. Though she had rarely been seen on the surface battlefields, word was that she was a more-than-capable leader.

"You know, Tachi, this doesn't seem like much of a rescue to me." Ventress commented lightly, but with a hint of scorn in her voice. "Listening to some of my contemporaries, anyone would think that you were a cunning strategist. This plan seems rather poorly thought out."

Ventress ignited her twin red blades and moved into a Makashi stance. "I think I had better teach you a lesson."

 **###**

The Sith assassin sprang forward, hoping to catch the Jedi off-guard but Siri reacted quicker than the blink of an eye, bringing her blade up to block Ventress' attack.

Ventress snarled at her opponent and briefly disengaged before launching back into another attack.

Siri parried the first blow, then ducked under the second blade, sending Ventress stumbling past her.

The Jedi Master didn't waste the opportunity that had presented itself and immediately launched into a counterattack employing Form II herself against the dual blades of her foe.

Ventress was caught by surprise and was forced back several paces by the Jedi Master before she recovered and stood her ground once again. She cut at Tachi with her left blade, forcing the Jedi to parry and forcing the other woman into a blade lock as she upped the pressure on her opponent's blade.

Then she lunged, stabbing at Tachi's heart with the blade in her right hand.

But instead of flesh, her blade found only air.

Sensing, more than seeing, the red blade coming at her, Siri disengaged her own weapon, unbalancing Ventress as she spun out of the way and delivered a brutal roundhouse kick to the Darksider's back.

Ventress steadied herself and glared fiercely at the Jedi as the two women began circling each other.

"There aren't many of us who practise Makashi these days, so when I heard that you were one – trained by Count Dooku himself, no less – I was looking forward to the challenge." Siri commented conversationally. She sighed sadly. "Clearly you were a poor student, though." She taunted.

Ventress took the bait and screamed with rage as she leapt at the Jedi Master again, hacking and slashing furiously with her crimson blades.

It was a fearsome assault, fuelled by intense rage, which should have overwhelmed most ordinary duellists.

But Siri Tachi was no ordinary duellist. She deftly parried every strike, her face remaining a calm picture of serenity the entire time.

After a few minutes in which an observer would have got the impression that the Jedi Master was almost toying with her foe, Siri parried a blow with her lightsaber then lashed out and backhanded Ventress across the face, sending the bald woman stumbling backwards.

"Very disappointing." Siri mocked again as Ventress angrily wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of her mouth.

The Sith assassin turned to face Siri once again and that was when she caught sight of the two lightsabers hanging at her opponent's belt. In that moment, only one of the weapons interested her though.

"That is not yours!" Ventress screeched furiously at the Jedi Master. "Give it to me!" She screamed, pointing at the lightsaber which had once belonged to Ky Narec – her former Master. "Give it back to me, you thieving Jedi whore!" She yelled furiously, spittle flying from her mouth.

 **###**

Siri arched an eyebrow at the Sith assassin. The pale woman looked more like a rabid Akk Dog than a sentient being. Siri lightly touched the hilt of the weapon at her waist.

"You mean this?" She asked.

Ventress stayed silent, seething with rage.

"Well, you're welcome to come and get it."

Ventress gave a feral cry and charged the Jedi Master.

The Dathomirian cut down at the Jedi with both blades aiming to bisect Siri from shoulder to hip.

Siri ducked the attack and pivoted on her left foot, spinning her body round behind Ventress as the Darksider barrelled past.

Distracted and unbalanced by her rage, Ventress had left herself open.

Siri didn't waste the opportunity. She made a backhanded cut with her 'saber.

The strike was accurate and deadly.

The assassin screamed in agony as the burning violet blade scorched a long, deep cut across her back.

Ventress staggered, almost drunkenly, from the pain. She tried to turn around to face Tachi once more but she never made it.

Instead, a powerful Force push sent her flying and she crashed through the wall into the next room.

Ventress gasped in anguish as she slammed into the hard stone floor. Her entire body was in agony. Thankfully, she was soon enveloped by the welcome oblivion of unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:**

 **Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it.**

 **Also, thanks everyone for reviewing.**

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 **Star Wars: Lost and Found**

Chapter 3:

Siri straightened her posture and spared a quick glance at the hole in the wall that Ventress had made.

"Bitch." She muttered scornfully.

The Sith assassin wasn't dead – Siri could sense her presence still – but she was unconscious. She no longer posed a threat.

That was good enough for now.

Extinguishing her blade, Siri turned and hurried over to where Obi-Wan's limp form was hanging by chains from the ceiling. With a small hand gesture, she unlocked his restraints with the Force, freeing her friend.

Siri caught Obi-Wan as he fell and was shocked by just how little he weighed – she was able to easily support his weight, even without calling on the Force to help her.

A wave of anger rose up inside her as she looked over Obi-Wan's body.

His tattered tunic hung loosely from his shoulders and she could easily feel the prominence of his ribs. His clothing was splashed liberally with blood – most of it dried and darkened, though there was a disturbing amount that was bright and freshly spilt.

"Oh, Obi..." She whispered softly as she lowered him gently to the floor.

Siri knelt beside him, cradling him with one arm around his shoulders while she removed the hideous black torture mask with the other hand.

She gasped in shock and clamped a hand over her mouth as she pulled the mask away, revealing Obi-Wan's beaten and bloodied face.

His face was covered in cuts, some of them still seeping yet more blood. He had taken such a beating that the numerous dark purple bruises seemed to have merged into one, obscuring his whole face.

Siri felt a tear sliding down her cheek at the sight of the man she loved. Even now that he was free from the Force-suppressing restraints and the Sith torture mask, his Force presence was still pitifully weak.

A fresh wave of anger and hatred at Ventress rose up inside her and for a moment Siri wanted nothing more than to find the witch's unconscious body and hack her into a thousand pieces with her lightsaber.

She quickly pushed the anger aside. She had to help Obi-Wan – she had to get him as far away from this Force-forsaken hellhole as she could. The anger was still there, seething away inside her but she ignored it for now.

Her anger wasn't going to help Obi-Wan.

Siri jumped slightly as she felt Obi-Wan stir slightly in her arms. A low groan escaped his swollen lips.

"Obi-Wan?" She asked softly, brushing a tangled knot of hair away from his quivering eyelids. "Obi? Can you hear me?"

His eyelids flickered for a few moments more before he blearily opened one eye and then the other.

"S-Siri..." He murmured weakly, his voice broken and cracked.

"I'm here now, Obi-Wan." She replied softly. "I'm here. I'm taking you home."

For a second, Obi-Wan seemed to relax, but then a panic seemed to grip him and he started to struggle, shaking his head frantically.

"N-no... not real. Not... again."

"It is me, Obi." She tried to reassure him. "I'm here for you now. I'm here – I promise you."

"Trick... no. Not Siri. Alone... Ventress. No, please... no more. Make it... stop..." He moaned piteously.

The sight of him like this – so utterly broken in mind as well as body – brought fresh tears to Siri's eyes.

Siri gripped his shoulders, holding him firm. "Look at me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Look at me." She urged, making sure her voice stayed soft and gentle even as she spoke the command.

Slowly, fearful blue eyes – utterly devoid of the sparkle she remembered – turned to look at her. Siri could still feel his body trembling with fear beneath her touch.

"It is me, Obi-Wan." She reiterated. "It _is_ me – Siri."

She closed her eyes and took his hand, lacing their fingers together as she reached deeply into the Force, conveying her Force signature to her friend.

 **###**

For several seconds Obi-Wan stayed silent, his usually vibrant blue eyes so dulled by pain and yet wide with dread. She could feel his whole body trembling violently as she held his hand in hers, tracing soft circles on his calloused skin with her thumb.

Finally, Obi-Wan spoke again, his voice cracked with fear. His lips barely moved as they formed the single whispered word.

"Siri...? Is it... is it really you?"

"It's me, Obi. It is me. I promise you." Siri assured him emphatically, another solitary tear sliding down her cheek as she spoke the words of reassurance. "I'm taking you home."

At last, her words seemed to sink in and he visibly relaxed, his eyelids drooping slightly.

"Sleep now, my love." Siri whispered softly, leaning in to press a kiss lightly to his forehead, sending him calming waves through the Force.

As the Council member's form sagged into unconsciousness, Siri's lips lingered on his forehead for a few more seconds before she pulled away.

Drawing on the Force once again to augment her strength, she lifted Obi-Wan onto her shoulder in a fireman's lift. Again, she was shocked by just how thin and light her friend had become in his months of captivity.

Siri straightened up, shifting Obi-Wan's weight slightly on her shoulder. Taking her lightsaber in hand once more, she strode swiftly and purposefully towards the door.

It was time to get out of this hellhole.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi.**

 **Back again. Hope you enjoy the next chapter - to be honest, I'm not so sure about this one, so please let me know what you think.**

 **Also, I'm going to draw this story to a close in the next chapter or two. If inspiration strikes however, I will write a sequel. :)**

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 **Lost and Found**

Chapter 4:

Siri threw the stolen YT-2400 light freighter into a barrel roll as the Force screamed a warning at her.

A moment later a volley of bright red lasers flashed through the place where the fleeing ship had been less than a second earlier.

A beep from the console told her that she had cleared Rattatak's gravity well and that the ship was ready to make the jump to hyperspace.

 _Great. Home it is. First, I just have to deal with the guys behind me._ Siri thought grimly.

It would take a second or two for the ship to enter hyperspace once she initialised the hyperdrive – time in which she would be unable to evade her pursuers, leaving the ship an easy target.

 _Let's take a page out of Master Plo's book._ Siri decided.

She kept up the evasion for about thirty seconds more, but allowed the pursuing fighters to close the distance. That was when she cut the power to the freighter's engines.

Without propulsion, the oddly-shaped vessel slowed to a fraction of its previous speed, only its momentum carrying it onwards.

Not anticipating the move, the two pursuing fanblade fighters shot past.

Flicking a switch, Siri brought her ship back online, the engines roaring back to life as she lined up the first enemy fighter in her sights and opened fire.

A moment later, the ship exploded in a burst of flame.

The second fighter tried to escape, desperately making a sharp turn to port. The effort was in vain as Siri lined up the fighter in her crosshairs and opened fire.

The red lasers tore into the enemy ship, shredding the flimsy fan-shaped wing and sending it tumbling lifelessly off into space.

With the immediate threat eliminated, Siri turned her own fighter around, input the jump coordinates, and activated the hyperdrive.

 **###**

Once the bright streaks of blue light were shooting past the cockpit as the freighter rushed through hyperspace towards the Core, Siri finally allowed herself to relax slightly.

Unlike her infiltration of Ventress' base, her escape with Obi-Wan had been more problematic. As she was carrying Obi-Wan's unconscious form through the dark, dank corridors the alarm had been raised – presumably by Ventress once she came to.

With dozens of guards closing in, Siri had resorted to freeing the others prisoners in order to stage a mass prison break. Admittedly, she did feel a bit uneasy doing so – judging by their looks and presences in the Force, many of them had been locked-up for good reason.

After that, it had been a matter of making her way to the landing pad, strapping Obi-Wan into the co-pilot's seat of the stolen freighter, and then getting past the pursuing fighters.

The ordeal had been far from easy but Siri was certain of one thing: the Force had been on their side. Without it, they never would have made it off the surface.

Leaving her seat, Siri picked Obi-Wan up again and carried him to the cramped medbay where she placed him on the small bed. Grabbing a medical scanner from a shelf she started to scan her friend.

Siri blanched as she looked at the readout. The scanner listed a horrifying myriad of injuries to Obi-Wan's body.

Close to one hundred lacerations of varying severity. Serious bruising, much of it internal. Fractured skull. Nineteen out of twenty four ribs fractured, five of them badly broken, with one dangerously close to puncturing his left lung. Fractured left femur. Left shoulder dislocated. Three broken fingers on his right hand. Extensive damage to muscles and ligaments. Internal bleeding.

Siri's fury spiked again as she saw the full extent of Obi-Wan's injuries.

 _I should have cut that bitch's head off..._

She took several deep breaths to try to calm herself and attempt to release her righteous fury into the Force. The effort was far from successful but it was a start at least.

 _Focus, Siri. Focus on Obi-Wan. Think of ways to viciously torture Ventress later._ Siri mentally reprimanded herself.

Lacing her fingers together, she placed her hands on Obi-Wan's abdomen where the scanner had indicated the internal bleeding was located. By her own admission, Siri was far from a professional healer, but she had had enough opportunities to practice patching herself up on her various undercover assignments.

After dealing with the internal bleeding, Siri fixed the ribs that had suffered the worst damage. After that, she carefully cut away his tattered robes with a pair of medical scissors so that she could correct his dislocated shoulder and start to clean the multiple cuts and apply bacta patches to the wounds. It quickly became clear that the small medical bay did not hold nearly enough supplies to provide even rudimentary treatment to more than a fraction of Obi-Wan's injuries.

 **###**

Two hours later, satisfied that she had done as much as she could for her friend, Siri wiped her brow tiredly with the back of her hand and sat down, perching herself on a shelf at Obi-Wan's bedside.

Reaching out her hand, Siri gently ran her slender fingers over Obi-Wan's battered face, caressing his features. It pained her horribly to see him in this state, yet a soothing sense of calm from the Force reassured her that he would recover. It would undoubtedly be a long and difficult process but Obi-Wan – despite his present situation – was strong and he would have the Temple's best healers to look after him.

 _And he'll have me._ Siri told herself forcefully.

Siri blinked and brushed aside a lock of Obi-Wan's dirty, matted hair with her thumb.

If she had learned one thing in the past day, it was that no matter how hard you tried to suppress them, some feelings were just impossible to ignore. She still loved Obi-Wan Kenobi. Leaning over him, she pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"I love you, Obi-Wan." She whispered softly as she pulled away. "I have done for years – ever since we were Padawans." She sighed softly. "I never stopped loving you, you know. Even after we agreed that being Jedi was more important, I never stopped loving you.

"Oh, I tried to convince myself that I only saw you as a friend, but it didn't work – not really. I know it hurt you when I said we had to stop things between us... and it hurt me too, even if I didn't show it."

Siri carefully took Obi-Wan's broken and bandaged hand in her own.

"I was wrong. So, so, wrong. I don't know if you still love me, Obi-Wan – I wouldn't blame you if you don't anymore." Siri went on, a fresh solitary tear leaking from her eye as she thought of just how much time the pair had wasted because of her. "But I promise you this, my love: you will get through this. And however long it takes, I will be there for you."

 **###**

It was nearly three days and seven hyperspace jumps later that the stolen YT-2400 finally arrived in the orbit of Coruscant.

Initially, the Republic ships defending the planet activated their weapons, suspicious of the freighter's unannounced arrival but after Siri transmitted her clearance code, they quickly stood down and allowed her to pass into the atmosphere.

In hindsight, Siri realised it may not have been a good idea to jump so close to the capital world of the Republic, when the intensifying war had everyone so on edge.

Twenty minutes later, after radioing ahead to the Temple to inform them of the situation, Siri landed the freighter expertly in the Temple hangar.

Within seconds, the Temple was awash with people as they rushed to the aid of the wounded Jedi Master onboard.

The following events were all a blur to Siri. She had a vague recollection of Master Vokara Che and a team of healers hurrying Obi-Wan away on a stretcher. She remembered giving a terse dismissal to Mace Windu when he and a group of other Councillors tried to get a debriefing from her.

Instead, she had rushed off to the Halls of Healing to check on Obi-Wan.

The minutes stretched into an hour, then two, then six.

Then a sudden rush of emotion slammed into her mental shields. It was like a whirlwind barrelling through the Temple corridors, throwing aside everything in its way.

As far as Siri was aware, there was only one Jedi who could cause that sort of commotion in the Force.

 _Anakin._

A minute later, her suspicions were confirmed as a young man with almost shoulder-length brown hair and a scar across his right eye came barrelling around the corner, rushing towards the Halls of Healing.

Siri stood up to meet him.

"Anakin-" She began, reaching out a hand towards him.

"Where is he? I need to see him." He demanded urgently as he tried to push past the blonde Jedi Master.

Siri grabbed a handful of the young man's robes to hold him still.

"Obi-Wan is still in surgery. He is weak and badly hurt – Master Che is personally overseeing his treatment."

Her words did little to calm Anakin.

"I have to see him." He reiterated forcefully, trying to pull away from Tachi's grasp. "I need to know he's going to be alright!"

At five foot ten, Siri was a tall woman and was far from weak. Nevertheless, Anakin was much bigger and it took all her strength to keep him from bursting into the healers' ward and even then, she was fighting a losing battle.

"That's enough, Anakin!" She snapped.

Again, her words had no effect.

Knowing that Anakin barging in on the surgery being performed would no no-one any good, Siri decided on a slightly more direct course of action. Letting go of Anakin with her right hand, she drew her arm back and delivered a powerful punch to his jaw.

Anakin reeled away in shock and Siri capitalised on his surprise.

"You _cannot_ go into that room, Anakin." She snapped. "I don't like this any more than you do – sitting here, helpless, doing nothing – but right now, that's just the way it is. Neither of us are healers. There is nothing we can do to help him. The only thing we can do is leave the healers alone to concentrate on treating Obi-Wan. I don't like it any more than you do, but that's just the way it is."

Anakin's mouth opened and closed a couple of times, making him appear like a gaping fish as he tried to find the right words. Had it not been for Obi-Wan's dire condition in the next room, she might have found the sight amusing.

Luckily however, Anakin did at least seem to have moved past the punch to his face, being in such a state over the condition of his former Master.

"I – I can't... I need to-" He stammered out as he took a couple of tentative steps back towards Siri.

"You can't, Anakin." Siri repeated softly but firmly. "We are not qualified to help him right now. There will be a time later, once he has been stabilised, when he will need us, but right now Master Che and the healers are the ones he needs."

Anakin still looked unconvinced, so Siri tried again.

"I know how you feel, Anakin, but-"

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say.

" _You know how I feel?_ " He demanded furiously, his face turning red with anger. "You have no idea how I feel! He is my _brother_! I love him! I can't lose him! You, with all that 'no emotion' crap, have no idea how that feels!"

It was testament to just how worked up the young Jedi was that he so freely voiced his distaste with and breach of the Jedi Code.

Regardless, his words sparked something in Siri. She shoved Anakin in the chest.

"How dare you?" She growled in a low, dangerous voice. "How dare you? You see me as some cold, emotionless droid? Well I have news for you, Skywalker: I do know how you feel, stuck here, not able to do anything for him. I _do_ know because...

"Because I love him, too."


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:**

 **Hi, everybody. I'm back - finally! I'm very sorry it has been such a long time since the last update. It's been a combination of writer's block, being busy at work over Christmas and generally just feeling a bit crap. Anyway, the next chapter is here at last!**

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 **Lost and Found**

Chapter 5:

Siri sat silently by Obi-Wan's bedside, his hand held lightly in hers as she softly traced circles on his calloused skin with her thumb.

Usually, she would not have risked showing such affection in a part of the Temple where another Jedi could wander in at any time but tonight, she felt safe in doing so. First of all, Obi-Wan had been placed in a private ward within the Halls of Healing for the duration of his recuperation, so there were no other patients as witnesses. Also, the current shift was being handled by her and Obi-Wan's old mutual friend: Bant Eerin. Though the Mon Calamari healer had always adhered to the non-attachment element of the Jedi Code herself, she had been witness to her friends' mutually suppressed love in their teenage years and had never voiced any disapproval over their feelings for each other.

As Siri looked out of the window at the glittering lights of the Coruscant skyline, a soft smile played at her lips. The pinpricks of light, of every conceivable colour, that spotted the night sky like paint on an artist's canvas, caused her memories to drift back to a time fourteen years ago. Sitting on a deserted balcony in a sparsely occupied part of the Temple, nestled against Obi-Wan with his Jedi cloak wrapped around them both to ward off the chill of the night air.

It had been that evening when they had shared their first, nervous kiss that had begun their short relationship.

Closing her eyes, Siri pictured that night in her mind, letting her thoughts linger on simpler, more pleasant times. Opening her eyes again, she looked down at Obi-Wan's still, gaunt form laid out on the hospital bed.

Even after two rounds of surgery and a 48 hour dip in a bacta tank, he still looked dreadful. The healers had shaved off his beard and cut his hair short – almost to his scalp – to remove the long, matted tangle that it had turned into during his time in captivity.

Despite his pale, sickly appearance, Obi-Wan looked far younger than he ever had in Siri's recent memory. Siri smiled fondly. She remembered the time a few years ago when she finally got him to admit that he had only grown the beard to make him look older and more mature – even if, as he later joked, he had since broken the Jedi Code by forming an attachment to it.

Still holding Obi-Wan's hand, Siri moved her free hand to his face to cup his cheek.

She knew Anakin cared deeply for his Master but she was glad that she had finally been able to convince him to leave and get some rest. Admittedly, it was more than a little selfish but she just needed to spend a little time alone with him, to feel his hand in hers.

...

The first time it happened, Siri thought that her mind was playing tricks on her – that her own desire to look into Obi-Wan's eyes was making her imagine the movement of his hand in hers.

The second time it happened, her heart leapt with hope as she felt his fingers twitch against the palm of her hand.

"Obi-Wan?" She asked hopefully.

His hand made another slight movement and as she stared at his haggard face, Siri noticed a faint fluttering of his eyelids.

"Come on, Obi. Be strong. Come on, wake up – open your eyes." Siri coaxed softly.

...

" _Come on, Obi. Be strong. Come on, wake up – open your eyes."_

 _No. Don't want to wake up._ Obi-Wan thought stubbornly.

The darkness and the void of unconsciousness was infinitely preferable to the waking nightmare he knew he would return to when he regained consciousness.

This was not the first time that he had had a hallucination during his time in captivity – how long had it even been? Weeks? Months? He was pretty certain that it had been more than just a few days. An unending cycle of pain, torture, misery, fear, anger...

 _Anyway, where was I? Ah yes: the latest in a long string of hallucinations – about Siri._

Obi-Wan had lost count of the number of times his mind had played tricks on him, making him believe that he had been rescued by Anakin or that he had escaped from his living nightmare and was finally pursuing the relationship with Siri that he had always dreamed of – only to awake to the sight of Ventress, standing before him, ready to make a reality out of her latest sick, sadistic fantasy.

 _No._

No matter how much he may want to believe that he was safely back in the Jedi Temple, where his senses told him he was, with the love of his life at his bedside, holding his hand, Obi-Wan knew with a terrible, crushing certainty that he was still chained to a wall in the depths of Ventress' lair.

" _Please, Obi-Wan... please wake up."_ He heard Siri's voice begging him once again.

 _No. Not real. Go away, go away, GO AWAY!_

He screamed internally in a futile effort to shove aside the blissful visions that gave him a few moments of strength, only to crush him down to new lows every time he awoke and realised that it had all been in his mind.

But the hallucination did not oblige.

" _I need you to wake up, Obi-Wan. She did awful things to you, but it is over now. It's_ over _."_

Siri gave a deep sigh and Obi-Wan thought he heard a few quiet sobs.

He frowned mentally. Somehow, this hallucination seemed different from the others – more _real_ , somehow.

" _I was wrong, you know – to say we should lock away our feelings for each other. I was a fool. I never stopped loving you, but I thought that those feelings were wrong."_ She gave a soft, mirthless, chuckle. _"Qui-Gon was right, you know. I always assumed that to follow the will of the Force was to follow the Code. But the Force sent me the vision I needed to find you because of how I feel about you – I'm certain of it. I love you, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Please, open your eyes – for me."_

...

Siri scrunched her eyes shut and dropped her forehead to rest on the bed at Obi-Wan's side. The tears that had gathered in her eyes as she bared her heart to the man she loved were now flowing freely down her cheeks.

Any other time, she would have wiped the tears away, determined not to show any sign of weakness. Now though, she could not bring herself to care about that. All she cared about in this moment was the man lying on the hospital bed beside her.

 _Force, please let him be alright._ Siri prayed silently.

"Siri...?"

The hoarse whisper almost made her jump out of her skin. In an instant, her eyes flew open and her head shot up to see Obi-Wan – awake.

For several seconds, all she seemed able to do was stare at him; her gaze lost in those stormy blue-grey eyes that were forever in her dreams.

"Siri... is it – is it really you?" Obi-Wan croaked weakly, his throat parched and dry.

Siri grabbed the pitcher of water from the bedside and quickly filled a glass and holding it to Obi-Wan's cracked lips.

"Small sips, Obi-Wan." She encouraged softly as she lifted the glass to his lips, neither Jedi breaking eye-contact for fear that the other would vanish into oblivion if they did. She gave a soft smile as she replaced the glass on the bedside table.

"And, yes, Obi – it really is me."

"Not – not a hallucination?" He asked carefully, his voice a fraction stronger this time.

Siri shook her head lightly and gave him another smile.

"Not a hallucination." She assured him. "All real. It's all over – you're safe now."

She gently squeezed his hand to emphasise her point.

Obi-Wan regarded her carefully for a few moments, as if trying to sense the truth in her words. Feeling the faint touch against her mind, Siri dropped her mental shields completely, allowing her friend to feel the full essence of her Force aura.

A few seconds later, he gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head and relaxed back against his pillows, shutting his eyes.

It must have been several minutes before Obi-Wan finally spoke again, his eyes still closed as his head lolled on the pillow.

"Siri?"

"Mm."

"The things you said while I was unconscious – was I just imagining them?"

Siri gave his hand an affectionate squeeze.

"No, you didn't imagine it. That was real, too."

Obi-Wan hesitated for a few moments, then:

"Did you mean it?"

Siri could hear the note of hope in his voice, but also the trepidation at the idea she might go back on what she had said. Siri leaned forward and leaned over him, her lips softly brushing his forehead in a gentle kiss.

"Every word of it, Obi-Wan. Every word."

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 **...And that's the end! I'm not entirely convinced that this is the right place to end the story, but I think it is. I have some ideas for a sequel, but I can't say when it will happen.**

 **Thank you to everyone who has stuck with it to the end. I hope you enjoyed the story.**


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